Started on the Bully

I have begun the Bully pattern for the NC State Fair. I really don't want to put a picture of the pattern glued to the wood since I understand some people will take and make their own pattern from the picture. Since it is a pattern that must be paid for  I don't want anyone taking this pattern. So I will show you a picture of the 1,000 holes or so that I drilled tonight in preparation to start cutting it.Each one of those small dark spots is a hole I drilled.

Think about this if there are over a 1,000 holes drilled I will have to insert the blade that many times before I complete it! I have not done a pattern as complex as this ever. So this should be fun. Plus this will be done with a spiral blade. I am not as comfortable using spiral blades but those are the only ones you can possibly use on a pattern such as this one.

Here is a top view of me when I was drilling the holes with my Dremel.

Well What To Do About The State Fair

Well I picked what I want to cut for the NC State Fair this year. It is called The Bully and it is designed by Mike Williams of Mike's Scroll Saw Patterns. One of his patterns was the first place winner last year so here is hoping I'll do a decent job on it. I need to decide what wood I'll be using whether it be ply or solid wood. It is 11x14 so I could get some thin wood to do this on.

Now it is an picture of an Elephant so what wood to choose. It is as important a decision as the pattern. Everything comes into play not just the color but the grain also.

The link to The Bully

Mike has many a good patterns there and some look amazing.

Maybe this is the one where I will finally do a video of a project.

Anyway it is WAY TOO COLD to even think about going to my shop which is just a large shed in my backyard. There is no heat so I'm not going there. I do have a small heater but it can't do much when it is in the low 50's so never mind when it is in the low 30's. Yes I live in the south and low 50's is cold. So imagine when it is in the high 20's to low 30's.  I like to the high 90's to Low 100's.

~Jim

Winter and it is cold

Well it is winter and my shop is just a shed out back. So with Christmas over I find it hard to head out there in the cold air. Granted this is NC so cold is relative but for a guy that will sit out there when it is 98 45 is damn cold. So nothing from me. I just have lots of things I want to cut. I did get a DeWalt orbital sander and itching to use it but not when it is this cold.

Here is my new sander it even came with a bag. The wife loves anything that comes with a bag. And to tell the truth I like them also but not as much. But since this will be used so much I doubt it will spend much time in the bag unlike other tools that are only used every now and then. This will be used for every project at least at the start and depending on how fragile the work is at the end to finish it..

Christmas Gifts I made 2015

Ok So I was pretty much unable to post any pictures of these things I have been working on since just about everyone these are intended for can most likely find these posts. Maybe not but did not want to take the chance that they may have been seen.

I had some issues with one of them where I made a goof up had to get more wood and then found out the pattern had printed smaller then had to get more wood. When I was finally finished the panels I had redone where a slightly different shade and so I had to stain it much darker then I wanted to. In fact I never stain I just use natural danish oil when I finish so I was a little upset but I had no time to try and find the same shade of wood.

Work was trying I ended up having to work an entire weekend on a network switch outage and I lost two crucial days and pretty much demanded two comp days of which I was able to get only one day off. But I was able to get everything done in time despite that. I was worried about the oil drying but it did.

So here is all the pieces with 6 pieces not here. I miss counted the slats for the glue up but I was able to cut more.

Now here is the stained one which came out alright. This is from Sheila Landry Designs just click the lick to go to the site to purchase the pattern or you can browse all the patterns they have. They are very talented artists.

Here is my other one which is also from Sheila Landry Designs just click the lick to go to the site to purchase the pattern or you can browse all the patterns they have. They are very talented artists.

What the backside looks like.

Thanks for looking!

Halloween 2015

I seem to have forgotten I had to finish this one. It is for Halloween. It is a Sue Mey Design. A Halloween tree with ornaments. It slides apart for easy storage so the tree becomes two pieces and is nice and flat for when it is not Halloween.

This did not take long to cut but took some time to paint the small ornaments. The longest might be tying all the little strings to hang those ornaments! I tried fishing line but the line was just so hard to see that I was going crazy and thinking I needed new glasses. That may be true but when you can't see the string because it is designed not to be seen by fish. Well you know what I mean.

Thanks for looking!
Jim